Kingdom Hearts 4 hopium is in overdrive thanks to a single image of Sora's voice actor in the studio: "YALL IS IT TIME??? IS IT FINALLY TIME????"

Haley Joel Osment, the actor best known for seeing dead things in The Sixth Sense, is also known around these parts as Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series, and it seems he's in the studio recording voice lines for something. That something, for Kingdom Hearts diehards chugging hopium from a keg stand, is proof that we're about to get Kingdom Hearts 4 news.

Announced in 2022 to coincide with the series 20th anniversary, Kingdom Hearts 4 has remained fairly elusive since then. Square Enix said when the game was revealed that it was in early development, and after a three-year update drought, official screenshots emerged showing a new Keyblade, a playable Mickey Mouse, and more breadcrumbs barely nourishing starved fans. As recently as September, we had confirmation from Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura that the sequel is "progressing well."

Despite these reassurances, three years with no new trailer is concerning, and Kingdom Hearts 4 hopefuls are starved for updates, which is likely why so many fans are obsessing over this image shared by Osment on Instagram and captured by Aitai Japan creator and CEO Audrey Lamsam:

I was able to verify Osment's Instagram Stories post, and indeed, he appears to be in a voice recording studio. What he's recording for is unclear and Osment didn't share any additional context beyond stating he's "back to work," but sure, theoretically it could be Kingdom Hearts 4.

Talking about the fourquel in October 2024, Osment himself appeared to be unaware that it had already been confirmed, saying he hopes "that we hear something about it sometime soon" and, after learning it was announced, suggesting it might be time to wrap up the series for good. "I'm always the last to know, because I'm the last step in the process," he said at the time.

What that means is, if Osment is indeed recording voice work for Kingdom Hearts 4, the project would likely be well into full production. Still, just saying that feels gratuitous, as we have virtually no idea what Osment is working on. While Sora is his most identifiable voiceover role, there's every possibility he's recording for something else entirely.

And yet, the hopium continues:

"GUYS GUYS HALEY JOEL OSMENT JUST POSTED THAT HES IN THE RECORDING STUDIO TONIGHT THIS IS NOT A DRILL," replied one Twitter user.

"OMG OMG ITS HAPPENING. PLACES EVERYONE PLACES. THIS IS WHAT WE TRAINED FOR," said another all-caps hopium huffer.

"KH NEWS IS PROBABLY COMING SOON. I REPEAT KH NEWS IS PROBABLY COMING SOON," said another.

"YALL IS IT TIME??? IS IT FINALLY TIME????" asked a totally normal Kingdom Hearts fan.

You get the idea. The prevailing theory seems to be that Osment is recording lines for a Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer to be shown at The Game Awards 2025. I've been around the block enough to know not to extrapolate too much from things like this, but I'm not here to harsh anyone's mellow.... or lack thereof. Hope away, and I'll be here either to celebrate or commiserate in December.

In the meantime, here are the best games of 2025 so far.